No one said being an artist was going to be easy. They tell you its all about perseverance, practice and following your vision, but rarely do people mention how much uncertainty and fear goes into the art making process. This point was no better driven home after reading David Bayles and Ted Orland's article titled Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking.
In the article one specific line caught my attention and hit a particularly tender note with me. The line in question explained how X-rays taken of famous paintings show a remarkable number of mistakes and mess-ups which are never seen in the finished piece. The point of this information is that even famous artists make mistakes and have to constantly experiment through the actual process of making art. This was important to me because I have a serious issue with revising and changing my work on the fly. When I make a mistake I often times throw away the entire project because I feel there can be no salvaging what I just created. The article puts into perspective the idea that screw-ups are something to be learned from and show up even in the most skilled of artists. Ultimately I now understand that learning from the process of the piece can be far more beneficial that creating a finished piece in one thought and one "wave." Art needs to be an experiment of constant change and manipulation and in the end this exploration of our own ability to fix mistakes is one of the most important principles we can learn.
